The franchisee of the Second Cup café at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal was filmed Friday evening making “hateful remarks” and making “inappropriate gestures.” In response, the franchise decided on Saturday to close the cafe and terminate its contract.
Posted at 10:58 a.m.
Updated at 1:29 p.m.
“Second Cup has zero tolerance for hate speech,” the company said in a message posted on its social networks. The actions of this franchisee constitute […] an attack on the values of inclusion and community that we defend at Second Cup. »
PUBLICATION TAKEN FROM THE SECOND CUP CANADA FACEBOOK PAGE
The identity of the coffee franchisee has not been released.
The facts date back, according to the press release, to Friday evening. Benoît Allard, spokesperson for the Divest for Palestine Collective, however, denied that the events could have taken place during Friday’s demonstration against NATO.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Concordia University, spokesperson for the Divest for Palestine Collective
According to LCN, the events occurred on Thursday and were linked to videos which circulated widely on social networks, taken during the demonstration for Palestine which took place near Concordia University. In a first video, we see a woman wearing sunglasses making a Nazi salute towards counter-protesters who are waving Israeli flags. On another, we see her, in the same place, making anti-Semitic remarks.
Second Cup specifies in its press release that it made the decision to close its branch in consultation with the Jewish General Hospital, where the café is located.
“The CIUSSS West-Central Montreal has been notified that a video containing anti-Semitic and hateful remarks has been circulating on social media,” said Carl Thériault, CIUSSS media relations specialist. , by press release. This video is related to a franchisee of Second Cup, one of the private tenants operating within the Jewish General Hospital.
“We fully support Second Cup’s decision to take swift and decisive action in this matter,” he added. Our CIUSSS […] firmly opposes anti-Semitism and any other form of discrimination or incitement to hatred. »
The Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) has clarified that it cannot confirm a hate crime. “For the moment, we have not received any complaints at this level,” indicated Véronique Dubuc, media relations officer for the SPVM.
Corrigendum
A previous version of this text referred to Friday evening’s anti-NATO protest. Our apologies.
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